Tuesday, November 25, 2014

It really sounds that the Grand Jury did a careful job and reached the right decision. But that doesn't matter to the people who would prefer to hug their grievances to themselves and take to the street. The media deserve blame up and down from hyping up this story. The race mongers who crowded into the Missouri to exacerbate the tensions are serving to help destroy a community. And now they've rioted, looted, and burned down businesses. Is that going to help people in that town find jobs? Who will want to operate a business in Ferguson? Where are these protesters as thousands of blacks are killed by other blacks? Why don't they take to the streets to protest black children being killed by gang violence? Are the only black victims they care about the ones who are killed by whites.

Last year, 76 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty, and I’m hard pressed to name one of them. Yet, high-profile cases such as the shooting deaths of Trayvon Martin and Mr. Brown in the present case have made these names well known across America and around the world. Their sad fame comes at the hands of those who push the narrative that white cops are motivated by racial animus to kill blacks. How else to explain the media ignoring the thousands upon thousands of blacks who die at the hands of other blacks but the sensationalized 24/7 coverage involved when violence is inflicted at the hands of whites towards blacks?

But hey, there are liquor stores to be looted. That will guarantee justice, won't it?

Last year, 76 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty, and I’m hard pressed to name one of them. Yet, high-profile cases such as the shooting deaths of Trayvon Martin and Mr. Brown in the present case have made these names well known across America and around the world. Their sad fame comes at the hands of those who push the narrative that white cops are motivated by racial animus to kill blacks. How else to explain the media ignoring the thousands upon thousands of blacks who die at the hands of other blacks but the sensationalized 24/7 coverage involved when violence is inflicted at the hands of whites towards blacks?

Yes, the President stated that the decision was the Grand Jury’s to make, but it was continually followed by caveats. There was another message in the way the President chose to frame his response:

The normal investigative process was followed, but you have a right to be angry. We had a months long investigation and mountains of evidence presented to a jury of your peers, but this was clearly a bad decision caused by the country’s legacy of racism. The evidence may have indicated that Officer Wilson acted within the framework of the law, but this isn’t just about one cop in Ferguson. White cops all over the country are out to get the black man and I’m sending Eric Holder to find out about it.

This is not a message of healing, nor is it a statement of support for the rule of law. That speech was a thinly veiled call to action, not to improve the nation, but to reinforce the idea that the legal system is not to be trusted. Barack Obama was telling everyone that you can have your day in court (or in this case, before a Grand Jury to decide if it even goes to court) but there is no reason for you to either trust or accept the results. If things don’t go the way you want, then it’s the courts that are wrong, not you. And when the legal dust settles, of course we don’t want any violence, but it’s completely understandable why you are so angry.

It sends a second message to Officer Darren Wilson and the rest of the first responders around the nation as well. If you are on the job in a community where you don’t belong because you don’t look like everyone you are protecting, you are a suspect by default in any controversial situation. And in a horrible case like this, even if a jury of your peers examines the evidence and finds that you were simply doing your job, your government will go out with a wink and a nod and tell everyone that you are probably still guilty. Also, your job will be forfeit and your life will be fundamentally changed because you will still be guilty in the court of public opinion. And nobody from the government is coming to your assistance. In fact, we’re going to throw you under the bus.

So why should you bother signing up to do this job in the first place? That’s probably a question a lot of cops are asking themselves this morning.

The arc of Obama's presidency when it comes to who he listens to most, however, appears to be not all that dissimilar from the one he rose to prominence critiquing. It turns out that in politics, keeping your friends close and your enemies (or at least rivals) closer isn't as important as keeping your friends close.

Decades ago, the Ivy League colleges thought they had a problem: too many Jews. These recent immigrants, from a culture that prized education and academic achievement, had an unfortunate characteristic: They worked harder, studied longer and cared more about school. In short, they had all the attributes required for success in the Ivy League.

Problem was, the Ivy League didn't really want them. Being first-generation students, these applicants didn't have rich alumni parents who would be likely to donate big bucks. Being from an ethnicity not associated with America's governing class, they didn't help the Ivy League with its biggest selling point — that going to college there provides an opportunity to rub shoulders with America's governing class. And they were seen as boring grinds who studied too hard and weren't much fun.

The result was a change in admissions criteria to reward "leadership," and "well-rounded" candidates — a thin disguise for "WASPs" — and, following closely on, actual quotas for Jewish students, so that no matter how many applied, their numbers on campus would stay just about the same. After several decades, this came to be seen as racist and unfair, and the quotas were dropped. (Though by then, conveniently enough, the Ivy League was able to find Jewish applicants with plenty of money, polish and governing-class connections without too much trouble).

But while the quotas for Jews are gone, the Ivy League now, by all accounts, has quotas for Asian students. They are seen as people who study too hard, boring grinds who aren't much fun — and, of course, their parents aren't as rich and connected. And though the numbers of highly qualified Asian applicants have grown dramatically, the number of Asians admitted stays pretty much the same every year.

The NYT edited their own story on the Chuck Hagel firing to take out the ways that Hagel had contradicted the President on ISIS. Their original story makes it seem that the White House was fine with Hagel until he started contradicting the administration's narrative on ISIS.

While President Obama campaigned on a promise that his universal health care plan would lower premiums, his controversial adviser and plan architect was privately warning the state of Wisconsin that Obamacare was poised to massively increase insurance costs for average residents, internal documents show.

Jonathan Gruber, the MIT economist currently under fire for suggesting the Obama administration tried to deceive the public about the Affordable Care Act, was hired by former Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle in 2010 to conduct an analysis on how the federal health-care reform would impact the state.

Mr. Gruber’s study predicted about 90 percent of individuals without employer-sponsored or public insurance would see their premiums spike by an average of 41 percent. Once tax subsidies were factored in, about 60 percent of those in the individual market were projected to see their premiums go up 31 percent, according to his analysis.

In addition, 53 percent of those insured by companies with fewer than 50 employees, would see their premiums rise by an average of 15 percent even after subsidies, Mr. Gruber forecasted. The report warned such increases could impact small companies’ decision whether to provide health insurance to their workers.

Amazing how Obama was promising exactly the opposite at the same time.

Alicia ponders the selective outrage of people and the media who are jumping up and down in outrage over allegations against Bill Cosby, but who attacked all the women who alleged that Bill Clinton had sexually assaulted them or who neglected for years the young girls who were kidnapped and brutally gang-raped by Pakistani gangs.

Ah, the MSM. They're always at it trying to run interference for Obama. Now the Washington Post ran a fact-check on SNL's skit ridiculing Obama's executive action on immigration. Think of that - they ran fact-checking on a comedy skit. A comedy skit! Ed Morrissey runs his own fact-checking on SNL's other notable skits.

Will fact-checking satire and comedy be a regular feature at the Washington Post? I’m not aware of a deep and critical need for such an effort, but then again, I’m handicapped by having a sense of humor. Let me contribute to the effort to make sure that comedy sticks to the facts:

There are actually very few people with cone-shaped heads, and they rarely talk like robots.
-The Blues Brothers were actually not related to each other in real life.
-Gerald Ford was actually one of the most athletic and physically gifted Presidents we’ve had.
-Catholic schoolgirls don’t really stick their fingers in their armpits and smell them for inspiration.
-There are no such things as landsharks.
-Don’t Fear The Reaper didn’t really need more cowbell.
-Church ladies are usually lovely, vivacious women who contribute much to their communities.
-Czechoslovakian refugees had more to worry about than going “wild and crazy” at discos.
-Sarah Palin never said she could see Russia from her house.
-We have not, in fact, checked the lobster, but it might be delicious depending on its preparation. You should tip the waitress, though, even if she does have a couple of days off during the week.

Let me know when I can join the Comedy Fact-Checking Brigade at the Washington Post. Hopefully I get in soon, because the job will certainly disappear when a Republican gets elected President in 2016.